Thungen Financial Markets Easter Week Update 17th April 2014

April 17, 2014 - PRLog -- Thungen Financial is a financial management company for international investors and expatriates. Realise your investment goals with online access to Stocks, CFDs, Futures and Forex trading on 17 exchanges worldwide. Manage your money conveniently with our Multi-Currency Accounts. And take advantage of our 0% entry-fee investment funds.

Thungen Financial Markets Easter Week Update 17th April 2014

The short trading week has been positive so far and looks to round off today in good fashion.

Asian markets were mixed today after stronger than expected data out of China and the Federal Reserve in the US continuing their line on reducing QE. Economic Growth for Q1 was 7.4% according to the Chinese government, proving to be better than analysts' expectations. Although lower than Q3 of 2013 it was still ahead of projections along with an increase in GDP attributed to a 8.8% increase in Industrial Output for March. Retail Sales were also higher, up 12.2% on the previous year which gave weight to the economy being boosted by domestic consumption. The Nikkei in Japan managed to finish the week level after a 3% increase on Wednesday which would have no doubt eased the local investors.

Asian Markets as of 17th April 2014:

Nikkei 14,417.53 -0.00          SSE Comp. 2,105.12 +0.17%

Hang Seng 22,679.93 0.07%        ASX 5,444.80 +0.59%

European markets opened slightly flat today after a strong day for the majority of the indexes. With the EU Parliament finally signing off on their latest Single Resolution Mechanism reform, general sentiment was positive amid data out of the US and Asia. The new reform (SRM) will give the ECB the ability to inject cash into any failing European bank, at short notice, in an attempt to stop such collapses that happened to Ireland, Greece and Cyprus. The €55bn fund will be financed by bank levies. Also introduced was a guarantee for individual savers, should a bank fail despite the new reform, all deposits will now be protected up to €100,000.00. This along with some positive data out of the UK and mainland Europe saw the markets hold the gains made earlier in the week and it is expected that this will continue until mid next week. A meeting later today in Geneva made up of representatives from Ukraine, Russia, EU and the UK will attempt to address the current situation in the Ukraine. The crisis is continuing to weigh on the markets as developments seem to be far from resolution. Europe will be keen to smooth the way for an ending to the crisis without too much collateral damage. The implications of renewed and continued violence in the East of Ukraine between what Moscow calls, pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian military will be the top of the agenda as they look to negotiate a peaceful conclusion.

European Markets as of 17th April 2014

FTSE 6,572.86 -0.17%          Dax  9,295.88 -0.24%

CAC40 4,405.88 +0.01%          BEL20 3,090.23 -0.27%

Zurich SMI 8,320.10 -0.03%          MICEX 1,325.62 +1.25%

Markets in the US have had a good week so far and the FED helped keep the momentum going. With all three of the major local indexes posting gains of over 1% it was a good sign that the week would close out well. Speaking after the FED meeting Ms. Yellen continued to insist that the US economy was improving, if slower than expected. Commenting on unemployment, she said that it could be a long as 2 years until unemployment was at target levels and that keeping inflation low as opposed to too high would only help speed up the program. With the FED's commitment to reducing bond buying and positive data with regards to Industrial Output and CPI the markets again inspired confidence despite some poor figures from IBM and Google did little to dissuade investors. As earning season hit full steam there will probably be some surprises however the general sentiment is that things are looking better than before and that if strong data continues to be supplied, investor confidence will pull money back into the markets.

US Markets as of 17th April 2014

S&P500 1,862.31 +1.05%          Dow Jones 16,424.85 +1.00%

NASDAQ 4,086.23 +1.29%

As Holy week draws to an end the markets have held the gains they managed to re-coup from the losses of last week. With many indexes closed on Monday too next week, it will be interesting to see how the markets open on Tuesday.

Thungen Financial would like to take this opportunity to wish its clients, employees and its readers a very Happy Easter and we will be back to our usual form early next week.

For more information on the services provided by Thungen Financial please visit our website at www.thungenfinancial.com or contact us on info@thungenfinancial.com.

DISCLAIMER  The views, opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed on this service are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Thungen Financial Advisors. All market data within this release is for your general information and enjoys indicative status only. Thungen Financial Advisors does not accept any responsibility for its accuracy or for any use to which it may be put. All share prices and market indexes delayed at least 15 minutes. 52 week high and low values are calculated from close price data.